The increase in the use of digital technology as well as the vast improvements in encoding and decoding technology have led to a high demand for audio, video, and other types of data. In response to this demand, audio data, for example, is being provided to the public through a wide variety of formats such as Compact Discs (CDs), Digital Video Discs (DVDs), MP3 files, WAV files, and so forth. This variety affords great flexibility for accessing audio data.
While this flexibility allows users to listen to, receive, and use data, such as music data, using a variety of format systems, it is inconvenient for the user to obtain multiple copies of the same data in differing formats. For example, a user may have a song on an audio CD that he wants to listen to using his MP3 player. The user must first convert the song from CD to MP3 format or obtain a copy of the song in both formats.
Conventional recording approaches allow the user to convert a song from a CD to a variety of digital data formats that can then be stored on the user's computer. For example, a user may convert a song from an audio CD to an MP3 format using a variety of programs. It is common for a user to record a song from audio CD to digital data format. After the song has been recorded the user can listen to the song, for example, by using a computer and a program that plays the digital data format.
One common problem is that conventional recording approaches require tediously long time periods, forcing the user to wait for the recording to finish before being allowed to listen to the song. For a user that wants to record several of his audio CDs, it may take hours for the user to convert all of the songs on the audio CDs into digital data format.
Another common problem is that conventional approaches require the user to completely finish recording a song before beginning to record a different song or set of songs. If the user interrupts the recording before it is complete, all of the recorded data is lost and the user must start from the beginning.